Text b Phrasal Verbs in Business

Native speakers of English tend to use a lot of phrasal verbs (sometimes called prepositional, multi-word verbs) in everyday spoken English. In fact, this is quite frustrating for students who often have learned one-word verbs during their English studies and then are confronted with an English speaking world where people usually favor phrasal verbs in daily discourse. Such combinations of a verb and a function word (usually analyzed as an adverb) express a unit of meaning that is quite different from that of either of the elements in isolation. For example, put out means “extinguish”, put off means “postpone”, put up means “preserve (food) by canning”, etc.

Phrasal verbs are useful in business communication. So, "`turn out' is a phrasal verb in the question “how many turned out for the fund raising event?”

You have noticed the great number of phrasal verbs used when people make phone calls. Occasionally the same phrasal verb can have two different meanings. Take the verb break and the two meanings of break into. Someone who breaks into your house is called a burglar but you could also say: It's very difficult to break into journalism, meaning it is very difficult to get into a career in journalism.

Now read the short story and try to work out what the phrasal verbs mean.

"Upbringing"

Sheila Hammond was only twenty-three when she was elected as a Member of Parliament, the youngest woman member in its whole history. Naturally the press showed a great interest in her and her family, invariably asking her how she had managed to be elected at such a young age. Her answer never altered. She owed it all to the way she had been brought up by her mother, Mary.

Her father had died of a heart attack when she was only two after his business had been brought down following a financial scandal. Criminal charges had been brought against him but the matter was closed on his death. The press decided to bring up this information without being able to get at the truth thanks to Mary's skilful management.

In fact during the election as Sheila went round from house to house canvassing, Mary would always bring up the rear. It was difficult sometimes to work out who was standing for Parliament, Sheila or Mary. Her mother had observed early on that Sheila was very good at defending herself and always arguing her case well, which had decided her to bring her daughter on in the art of public speaking. The awareness that Sheila had had all her life about her father's apparent "disgrace» brought her up against the necessity constantly to be on her guard. Sheila had never really explained what her father had done. All she would hint at was that the whole business had brought shame on the family name, although her father was totally innocent.

Exercises

I. Chose the appropriate phrasal verb among the ones given in brackets and translate the sentences:

1. Sales … in the last quarter.(got up; went up; did up; grew up)

2. We will … the matter of sharing investment costs in the next stage of negotiations. (pull down; give out; bring up; take with)

3. Demand was so high that cellular phone distributors … stock well before Christmas.(fell out with; ran out of; did away with; brought out of).

4. We will soon be out of sales catalogues and must find a temporary solution before the new one (brings out; comes out; falls out; takes out).

5. The meeting has been … Until November. (put off; pushed away; carried out; made up).

6. If the group wants to boost the brand`s image, it will have to …advertising and promotion. (push money up; give money in; put money into; set money up).

7. The figure is to be … to next year`s results. (put back; taken out; given over; carried forward)

8. The only research and development centre left after the merger is near Paris. The Irish and German ones have been … (closed down; put out; pushed away; done down).

9. The brothers … the company in 1920.(found out; put up; grew up; set up).

10. Inward investment has …as a result of changes in taxation law. (pulled in; given up; taken out; fallen off).

11. The ambitious scheme … thanks to the dedication and determination of the members of the project team. (gave out; came off; took up; pulled along).

12. The lobby groups put pressure on the government to … legislation to ban cigarette advertisements and succeeded. (get on; take in; carry away; push through).

13. The number of days lost to strikes in the British car industry has … regularly since the middle of the 1980s. (fallen through; got off; come down; dropped under).

14. … another new procedure will not guarantee that the problem will be solved. More frequent informal communication between departments heads would help. (bringing in; setting in; pushing up; throwing down).

15. The firm is … a new financial officer for their Madrid subsidiary. (looking for; picking up; taking out; thinking about).

16. The operator will …offering the services. That is the Board`s decision. (set to; go on; buy out; put up).

17. …the plan will prove much harder than deciding on which ones ensure the firm`s survival in the coming months.(carrying out; taking through; pushing up; setting down).

18. These days CEOs have to … environmental issues among other preoccupations. (set up; deal with; take out; make up).

19. The banks have … hope of getting all the debts in the present economic circumstances. (given up; taken back; put in; done down).

20. Retailers are … on the new Disney video in anticipation of an upsurge in demand. (stocking up; putting up; going out; pushing out)

II. Choose a correct Tense and Voice in the following sentences:

1. How long (you / have) ...this PC ?

2. If I (be) ...you, I’d accept that offer from the supplier.

3. The purchasing details (finalise) ... at the moment.

4. I don’t know what (we / do) ... if we had lost the order.

5. I (attend) ... a mind-mapping course from September to December     in 2004.

6. How long (you / deal) ... with those clients?

7. If I have time, I (finish) ... the report at home this evening.

8. How long (you / work) ... on that project last year?

9. I heard that you nearly won first prize in the lottery last weekend. What (you / do) ... with all that money?    

10. If I could have a holiday right now, I (go) ... to the Bahamas.   

11. How long (you / stay) ... in Minneapolis when you      (visit) ... America last year?

12. We (have) ... the accounts checked next week.

13. I (have to) ...go to work by bus this morning, my car      (service) ... at the moment.

14. How long (you / work) ...in this office?

15. Is the photocopier still out of order? – No, it (repair) … this morning.     

16. I (be) … to New York on business 3 times.

17. This report (write) ...by Dr. Martin, wasn’t it?

18. Everyone went to the workshop except me, because I already (take part) ... in similar seminars 3 times.     

19. That suppler (make) ... late deliveries already 3 times       this year.

20. Hopefully, by the time we get back from the meeting, the documentation ... (complete).     

Reference Material

Unit 1

Text B

*Job liability: here the author refers to the so-called Professional liability insurance, which protects professional practitioners such as architects, builders,lawyers,physicians, andaccountantsagainst potentialnegligenceclaims made by their patients/clients. The primary reason for professional liability coverage is that a typical generalliability insurancepolicy will only respond to a bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or advertising injury claim. The above mentioned professional services and products can cause claims without causing a bodily injury, property damage, personal injury or advertising injury. Common reasons alleged in making claims on these policies are negligence, misrepresentation, violation of good faith and fair dealing, and inaccurate advice.

*Bidding: to do the bidding in construction industry means “to offer to do work or provide services for a fixed price, in competition with other companies”

*Subcontracting: if a company subcontracts work, they pay other people to do part of their work for them. (“Consultants can give advice and then subcontract the actual engineering work to specialists”.)

*pros: short for “professionals”

Unit 3

Text C

*template - something that serves as a master or pattern from which other similar things can be made, something that establishes or serves as a patter.

Unit 5

Text A

*brainstorming: is a group creativity techniquedesigned to generate a large number ofideasfor the solution of aproblem. The method was first popularized in the late 1930s byAlex Faickney Osbornin a book called “Applied Imagination”. Osborn proposed that groups could double their creative output with brainstorming.

Although brainstorming has become a popular group technique, researchers have not found evidence of its effectiveness for enhancing either quantity or quality of ideas generated. Although traditional brainstorming does not increase the productivity of groups, it may still provide benefits, such as boosting morale, enhancing work enjoyment, and improving team work. Thus, numerous attempts have been made to improve brainstorming or use more effective variations of the basic technique. [Brainstorming Tips: Focus on generating a high quantity of ideas. Don't judge ideas. Invite other people to add ideas.]

*mind-mapping: A mind map is a diagramused to representwords,ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used togenerate,visualize,structure, andclassifyideas, and as an aid instudy,organization,problem solving,decision making, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semanticor other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existingmemories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage a brainstormingapproach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mind map represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.

The mind map can be contrasted with the similar idea of concept mapping. The former is based on radial hierarchies andtree structuresdenoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns.

Text C

*Huawei is a world-leading telecom solutions provider focused on building long-term partnerships with telecom operators. Its head office is based in Bantian, China. It is a leader in providing next generation telecommunications networks, and now serves 36 of the world's top 50 operators, along with over one billion users worldwide. The company is committed to providing innovative and customized products, services and solutions to create long-term value and growth potential for its customers.

Huawei's products and solutions encompassing wireless products, core network products, applications and software, as well as terminals. Major products are designed based on Huawei's ASIC chipset and utilize shared platforms to provide quality and cost-effective products. At the end of June 2008, Huawei has over 80 000employees, 43%of whom are dedicated to R&D. Huawei's global R&D centers are located in Silicon Valley and Dallas in USA, Stockholm in Sweden, Moscow in Russia and Bangalore in India in addition to those in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou and Chengdu in China.

Unit 6

Text A

*Event management: the organizing of large events, such as conferences and concerts.

*Adobe Flash (previously called Macromedia Flash) is a multimediaplatformcreated byMacromediaand currently developed and distributed byAdobe Systems. Since its introduction in1996, Flash has become a popular method for addinganimationandinteractivityto web pages; Flash is commonly used to create animation,advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to developrich Internet applications.

Flash can manipulate vectorandraster graphicsand supports bi-directionalstreamingof audio and video. It contains ascripting languagecalledActionScript. Several software products, systems, anddevicesare able to create or display Flash content, includingAdobe Flash Player, which is available for most commonweb browsers, somemobile phonesand otherelectronic devices(usingFlash Lite). The Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program is used to create content for theAdobe Engagement Platform, such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices.

Exercise 3 (Observations at the Airport)

*Neuro-linguistics: it is the study of the neuralmechanisms in thehuman brainthat control the comprehension, production, and acquisition oflanguage. As an interdisciplinary field, neuro-linguistics draws methododology and theory from fields such asneuroscience,linguistics,cognitive science,neurobiology,communication disorders,neuro-psychology, andcomputer science. Researchers are drawn to the field from a variety of backgrounds, bringing along a variety of experimental techniques as well as widely varying theoretical perspectives. Much work in neuro-linguistics is informed by models inpsycholinguisticsandtheoretical linguistics, and is focused on investigating how the brain can implement the processes that theoretical and psycholinguistics propose are necessary in producing and comprehending language.

Text B

*CV: The word "CV" is an abbreviation of "Curriculum Vitae" which itself means "Course of Life". A CV's primary use is as a job-seeking tool, a document sent to prospective employers to showcase the author's suitability for a certain role. As such the CV should not reflect ALL of one's personal lifetime experiences and achievements but instead the experiences and achievements most relevant to a particular Job Role or Career Path.

The presentation and content of a CV changes from country to country due to cultural differences. This article has been written for those interested in the UK market including those who are looking for work in the UK from abroad and British Citizens looking for work at home. Those interested in finding work in America should try the Resume Pagefor more information on the US culture of CV Preparation.

*Re – in correspondence, the abbreviation Re means ` Regarding`.

*Ltd. – the abbreviation stands for a “private company limited by shares”

It is a type of companyincorporated under thelaws of England and Wales,Scotlandor that of certainCommonwealth countriesand also theRepublic of Ireland. It hasshareholderswithlimited liabilityand itssharesmay not be offered to the general public, unlike those ofpublic limited companies."Limited by shares" means that the company has shareholders, and that the liability of the shareholders to creditorsof the company is limited to thecapitaloriginally invested, i.e. thenominal valueof the shares and any premium paid in return for the issue of the shares by the company. A shareholder's personal assets are thereby protected in the event of the company's insolvency, but money invested in the company will be lost.A limited company may be "private" or "public". A private limited company's disclosurerequirements are lighter, but for this reason its shares may not be offered to the general public (and therefore cannot be traded on a publicstock exchange). This is the major distinguishing feature between a private limited company and apublic limited company. Most companies, particularly small companies, are private.Private companies limited by shares are required to have the suffix "Limited" (often written "Ltd" or "Ltd.") or "Incorporated" ("Inc.") as part of their name, though the latter cannot be used in the UK or the Republic of Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland "Teoranta" ("Teo.") may be used instead, though this is limited mainly to Gaeltachtcompanies. "Cyfyngedig" ("Cyf.") may be used by Welsh companies in a similar fashion.

*viz. - as follows, namely,that is to say

*f.o.b. – the abbreviation stands for” Free On Board” (named loading port).

It is the classic maritime trade term, Free On Board: seller must load the goods on board the ship nominated by the buyer, cost and risk being divided at ship's rail. The seller must clear the goods for export. Maritime transport only.

Additional Reading Material

Unit 1

Text C

Some Information about Companies

Generally speaking, a company is a form of business organizationthat makes or sells goods or services in order to make a profit. Generally, a company may be acorporation,partnership,association,joint-stock company,trust,fund, or organized group of persons. InEnglish law, and therefore in theCommonwealth realms, a company is a form ofbody corporateor corporation, generally registered under theCompanies Actsor similar legislation. It does not include a partnership or any other unincorporated group of persons.

There are different kinds of companies in respect of the area of business such as chemicals, retailing, shipping, catering, engineering, transport, banking, insurance, microelectronics, etc. Some companies are rather small-sized, they operate on a local level. Others are fairly big-sized, they have a head office in a big city and several branches in other cities or even abroad. There are international companies known as multinational corporations (MNC) or transnational corporations (TNC). Such companies represent a form of business (a corporationor enterprise) that managesproductionor deliversservicesin more than one country.

Basically, all companies could be divided into two major types: public companies and private companies. A public company usually refers to a companythat is permitted to offer its registeredsecurities(stock,bonds, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through astock exchange, but also may include companies whosestockis tradedover the counter(OTC) viamarket makerswho use non-exchange quotation services. The term "public company" may also refer to agovernment-owned corporation. This meaning of a "public company" comes from the tradition of public ownership of assets and interests by and for the people as a whole (public ownership), and is the less-common meaning in theUnited States. "Publicly owned company" can also have either meaning, although in theUnited Kingdomit will usually be interpreted as meaning a company in thepublic sector(being owned by national, regional or local government). The term "public limited company" or simply "PLC", as used in the UK and Ireland, refers to a form of incorporation, and does not imply anything about the ownership of the company.

Usually, the securities of a publiccompany are owned by many investors while the shares of aprivate companyare owned by relatively few shareholders. A company with many shareholders is not necessarily a public company. In the United States, in some instances, companies with over 500 shareholders may be required to report under theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934; companies that report under the 1934 Act are generally deemed public companies. The first company to issue shares is thought to be theDutch East India Companyin 1601. A public company is able to raise funds andcapitalthrough the sale of its securities. This is the reason why public corporations are so important: prior to their existence, it was very difficult to obtain large amounts of capital for private enterprises. In addition to being able to easily raise capital, public companies may issue their securities as compensation for those that provide services to the company, such as their directors, officers, and employees.

A private company also has several advantages. It has no requirement to publicly disclose much, for any financial information could be useful to competitors. It spends less for certified public accountantsand otherbureaucratic paperworkrequired of public companies by government regulations. The wealth and income of the owners remains relatively unknown by the public. While private companies may also issue their securities as compensation for services, the recipients of those securities often have difficulty selling them on the open market. Securities from a public company typically have an established fair market value at any given time as determined by the price the security is sold for on the stock exchange where the security is traded. The financial media and city analysts will be able to access additional information about the business. In theUS, theSecurities and Exchange Commissionrequires that firms whose stock is traded publicly report their majorstockholderseach year. The reports identify allinstitutional shareholders(primarily, firms owning stock in other companies), all company officials who own shares in their firm, and any individual or institution owning more than 5% of the firm’s stock.

The norm is for new companies, which are typically small, to be privately owned. After a number of years, if a company has grown significantly and is profitable, or has promising prospects, there is often an initial public offeringwhich converts the private company into a public company or an acquisition of a company by public company. Yet, some companies choose to remain private for a long period of time after maturity into a profitable company. Investment banking firmGoldman Sachsand shipping services providerUnited Parcel Service(UPS) are examples of profitable companies which remained private for many years after maturing into profitable companies.

In addition, one publicly-owned company may be purchased by one or more publicly-owned company(ies), with the bought-out company either becoming a subsidiaryorjoint ventureof the purchasers or ceasing to exist as a separate entity, its former shareholders receiving either cash, shares in the purchasing company or a combination of both. When the compensation in question is primarily shares then the deal is often considered amerger. Most industrialized jurisdictions have enacted laws and regulations that detail the steps that prospective owners (public or private) must undertake if they wish to take over a publicly-traded corporation. This often entails the would-be buyer(s) making a formal offer for each share of the company to shareholders. Normally some form ofsupermajorityis required for this sort of the offer to be approved, but once it happens then usually all shareholders are compelled to sell at the agreed-upon price and the company either becomes a subsidiary, ceases to exist or becomes private. The shares of a public company are often traded on astock exchange. The value or "size" of a public company is called itsmarket capitalization, a term which is often shortened to "market cap". This is calculated as the number of shares outstanding (as opposed to authorized but not necessarily issued) times the price per share. For example, a company with two million shares outstanding and a price per share ofUS$40 would have a market capitalization of US$80 million. However, a company's market capitalization should not be confused with the fair market value of the company as a whole since the price per share are influenced by other factors such as the volume of shares traded.

For example, if all shareholders were to simultaneously try to sell their shares in the open market, this would immediately create downward pressure on the price for which the share is traded unless there were an equal number of buyers willing to purchase the security at the price the sellers demand. So, sellers would have to either reduce their price or choose not to sell. Thus, the number of trades in a given period of time, commonly referred to as the "volume" is important when determining how well a company's market capitalization reflects true fair market value of the company as a whole. The higher the volume, the more the fair market value of the company is likely to be reflected by its market capitalization.

Exercises